OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM, Vol. 3

OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM Volume Three: Reclaiming Community Edited by Jack Hirschman and John Curl Special thanks to all who made generous contributions to this publication. OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM Volume Three Revolutionary Poets Brigade Copyright © 2016 by Kallatumba Press. Edited by Jack Hirschman and John Curl All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, including information storage and retrieval or photocopying, except for short excerpts in critical articles, without written permission of the publisher. Intellectual property reverts back to the individual poets and translators upon publication. ISBN-13:9781537516790 ISBN-10:1537516795 Kallatumba Press San Francisco, CA. http://revolutionarypoetsbrigade.org/ Cover from painting by Pieter Bruegel designed by John Curl, with logo by Dorothy (Dottie) Payne. Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.............................................................8 MELBA ABELA...............................................................12 BENJAMIN ALCALÁ.....................................................14 LISA ALVARADO...........................................................16 MARYAM ALA AMJADI...............................................17 ADRIAN ARIÁS...............................................................18 ABIGEAL AYENI............................................................20 IDLIR AZIZAJ.................................................................24 JENNIFER BARONE.....................................................27 MAHNAZ BADIHIAN..................................................28 LYNNE BARNES.............................................................32 PAOLO BATTISTA.........................................................36 ALESSANDRA BAVA....................................................38 JUDITH AYN BERNHARD.........................................42 KRISTINA BROWN.......................................................44 FERRUCCIO BRUGNARO..........................................46 LEONICIO BUENO.......................................................50 TOM BURON...................................................................54 LIDIJA S. CANOVIC......................................................58 YOLANDA CATZALCO...............................................60 NEELI CHERKOVSKI..................................................64 DOMINIQUE CHRISTINA..........................................65 MARCO CINQUE...........................................................68 FRANCIS COMBES........................................................72 THOMAS RAIN CROWE.............................................76 JOHN CURL.....................................................................78 DIEGO DE LEO.............................................................80 SILVANA DG DINKA...................................................82 CARLOS RAÚL DUFFLAR..........................................84 AJA COUCHOIS DUNCAN.........................................85 AGNETA FALK...............................................................87 5 JACK FOLEY..................................................................88 KATERINA GOGOU...................................................90 RAFAEL JESUS GONZALEZ....................................94 ADAM GOTTLIEB........................................................96 MARTIN HICKLE.........................................................98 GARY HICKS................................................................100 JACK HIRSCHMAN....................................................103 GABRIEL IMPAGLIONE..........................................106 JAZRA KHALEED......................................................108 VINCENZO LERARIO..............................................112 MARK LIPMAN...........................................................114 ANGELINA LLONGUERAS....................................116 FIO LOBA......................................................................118 JIDI MAJIA.....................................................................120 ROSEMARY MANNO................................................122 ÁNGEL L. MARTÍNEZ..............................................123 PIPPO MARZULLI......................................................124 KAREN MELANDER-MAGOON..........................126 SARAH MENEFEE.....................................................128 MICHELE TERESI (MOMO) ..................................130 NANCY MOREJÓN....................................................132 GARRETT MURPHY..................................................134 MAJID NAFICY............................................................136 BILL NEVINS.................................................. .............140 DOROTHY (DOTTIE) PAYNE...............................142 GREGORY POND.......................................................146 PAUL PORTUGUES....................................................147 TONY ROBLES............................................................148 JULIE ROGERS............................................................150 LEW ROSENBAUM....................................................152 GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK........................................154 E. SAN JUAN, JR..........................................................156 NATACHA SANTIAGO........................................ ...160 6 SANDRO SARDELLA.................................................162 JÜRGEN SCHNEIDER...............................................168 NINA SERRANO..........................................................169 RAYMOND NAT TURNER.......................................170 GILLES B. VACHON...................................................172 PONCHO VILLA...........................................................176 ANTONIETA VILLAMIL...........................................178 DAVID VOLPENDESTA...........................................180 CATHLEEN WILLIAMS.............................................183 XIAO XIAO....................................................................186 JAMI PROCTOR XU....................................................190 ERIC YANKEE..............................................................192 DONALD RAY YOUNG.............................................194 TIM YOUNG..................................................................196 YURI ZAMBRANO.......................................................198 LORENE ZAROU-ZOUZOUNIS............................204 BIOGRAPHIC NOTES................................................209 7 OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM: Reclaiming Community INTRODUCTION This is a reminder: the United States government has more than 700 bases in other countries all over the world. It is the most extensive imperialist power in the history of humankind and in its most recent manifestation—the monopolistic consolidation of the wealthiest people on earth, that one percent which exploits and controls 99 percent of the people—human damage through wars, poverty, homelessness, police brutality, racism, refugee crises and other diseases has never been so widespread, even as human beings each day have greater access to means of expression and communication technologically! What lies behind this contradiction is the root of the imperialist machinery that both extends the exploitation of humanity and yet provides the “freer” expression and means thereof in an ever widening manner. That root is Capitalism itself, which feeds on profits, which will invent anything to continue getting fat on profits, which drinks profits and which, if piss changed its name to profits, would drink piss. Such a monstrosity is the reason for this anthology. It’s being published just after an Election of the new President of the Capitalist Party of the United States (which is what the Democratic and Republican Parties really are), after an electoral process of such an obscene display of money- spending to the complete disregard of people dying of hunger and homelessness everywhere in this country, that God himself was seen beating his fist against a tenement wall and crying: OVERTHROW CAPITALISM! As poets, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade are religious listeners, so for the past years we’ve been putting together anthologies entitled: OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM! 8 This is our 3rd anthology under that banner/title. It contains poems manifesting some of the damages mentioned above, along with some incendiary flares thrown into the battle, as well as poems of patience, hope and unity amid the struggles ahead. Fortunately, our numbers are growing. The RPB, which began in San Francisco in 2009 and dreamed of an Internationale of Brigades resonant to the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War—with engaged poetry as our weaponry—, now numbers some 16 Brigades. Poets from many of them are represented herein and the Biographical Notes at the conclusion of the texts will name their Brigade affiliations, especially in Italy and the U.S. To be as egalitarian as possible it was decided to publish one poem per poet—no matter the length, except of course when there is a necessary translation. I would especially like to thank my co-editor John Curl, for his suggestions to me about texts, and his help in organizing the presentation of the anthology, especially the cover, he himself has composed, and the other graphic works. Thanks also to San Francisco Brigadistas Judith Ayn Bernhard and Barbara Paschke, who joined me translating important texts. And to Lapo Guzzini, who translated many texts from Italian,

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